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Comment by seanmcdirmid | Hacker News Reader

GameWorks, the American-based joint venture started by Sega and Dreamworks, closed all of its remaining locations last month. RIP the downtown Seattle arcade.

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On the upside, Round 1 is steadily expanding throughout the US.

For those who don't know, Round 1 is a Japanese arcade company that also has US locations, and they import many only-intended-for-Japan arcade cabinets to said locations, including some that are only in Japanese. Their rhythm game sections in particular are basically unsurpassed by American standards, it's like stepping into a slice of Tokyo.

I thought the Koreans took over the rhythm game arcade business for the most part? All the surviving arcades I’ve been to in the states in recent years have only had Korean rhythm games on hand. I hope Konami hasn’t given up on the genre, or maybe the future is just beat saber (now owned by Meta).

Gonna be honest, I've never heard of Korean rhythm arcade games. I thought Koreans were mostly just into PC (and mobile) games. I would've thought I'd heard of this considering I read about Korean gaming culture, but apparently not enough.

Rhythm games are huge popular in Korea, probably more so than Japan right now. Units in the USA are often mistaken for Japanese, but the use of Hangul and the K-pop tunes should be dead give aways.

Pump It Up is a Korean DDR-style arcade. Round1 also seems to be bringing Chrono Circle to the US. Same manufacturer but different mechanics, it looks like maimai + Wacca.

Ah, I didn’t realize that game was Korean.

Not only US. They've opened one location in Russia, in Moscow.

So long as I can at Wacca while unable to travel back to Japan, I am so delighted by Round1.

Round 1 is way more than an arcade though. Most have bowling lanes, billard tables, ping pong tables, darts, food, box style karaoke rooms, and tumble rooms for small kids. Much more that just an arcade.

Wow, I was about to ask if anyone knew what this meant for GameWorks.

Even if I was too young for the golden age of American arcades, I’m glad I got to experience their twilight. The vertically-integrated, destination-class concept was clearly the end-state for the industry, but it was still a blast to go.

We still have barcades, which are fun, though they tend to be exclusively retro-gaming, appealing first and foremost to Gen X nostalgia. Looks like I'll need to go to Tokyo to get behind the wheel of an Initial D arcade machine again.

GameWorks opened in downtown Seattle around the same time that wizards of the coast opened up an arcade/card playing space on the ave (near the big university in the city). It was a weird resurgence in the late 90s, but neither stood the test of time.

What’s crazy is that the closure came as a surprise to many - I and most of my friends didn’t see any notice of it at all. I would’ve gone to the Seattle location one last time to get in some Third Strike.

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